Commission discusses new equal opportunity policy

Saturday

Jul 29, 2017 at 8:03 AM

Patrick Stout, Voice Correspondent

MACOMB — A revised draft of the city's affirmative action and equal employment opportunity resolution was discussed Thursday by the Macomb Equal Opportunity and Fair Housing Commission. Revisions were made by City Administrator Dean Torreson with assistance from City Attorney Kristen Petrie.The commission agreed to refer the draft to a special subcommittee for review. Torreson reported that it is a streamlined version of the current document on file. Commissioner Larry Adams, who worked on the original document, said, "I favor making it less cumbersome. What we had in place was not easy to use."Torreson said that, in addition to shortening the length of the resolution, changes were made in three key areas: (1) affirmative action compliance would be required of any city contractor or subcontractor working on a project of $20,000 or more; (2) recommended guidelines would be put in place for a minimum number of African-American, female, or Hispanic members on a work crew; and (3) companies working on city projects funded in part by state or federal dollars would be subject to state or federal regulations rather than the city resolution.Commissioner Brian Nelson asked Torreson how he determined the guidelines for employing members of protected classes. The city administrator said they are based on the percentage of population according to the 2010 census. As an example, he said a crew of nine should include at least one African-American because that group constitutes more than eight percent of the city population.In other business, Commissioner Doug Rossio asked about the status of a current vacancy on the commission. He was told that Mayor Mike Inman intends to ask city council concurrence on a nominee at the Aug. 7 city council meeting.Torreson reported that he, along with Alderman Don Wynn and Commission Chairman Stirling Edwards, reviewed a housing complaint. It was determined that this was not a case of discrimination.

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